


What You Missed

by fiveyaaas



Series: So Just Keep On Swinging If Only Because [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: & don’t understand how siblings work, Angst, F/M, Guilt, I expected this to be mildly cracky and it became angsty, I titled the series based off lyrics from “sister of pearl”, Introspection, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Season/Series 02 Spoilers, The song has been stuck in my head, This technically could go in the platonic fiveya tag, Trauma, Vanya is mentioned but not present in the fic, but only if you’re an only child lmao, set between s2e3 and s2e5, since s2 dropped, spoilers for tua s2, this is somehow the second thing that got, titled from it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:10:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26070145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveyaaas/pseuds/fiveyaaas
Summary: “I just think we should protect innocents,” Diego said, inhaling a little like he was bracing himself to say something particularly gruesome. Five didn’t care for the theatrics. “I would think you’d want to protect innocents more than anything, considering what just happened with Vanya.”
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves
Series: So Just Keep On Swinging If Only Because [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892602
Comments: 18
Kudos: 154





	What You Missed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [263Adder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/263Adder/gifts), [lifeofsnark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeofsnark/gifts), [foive (arcticnewt)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcticnewt/gifts).



> We were talking in the discord about the fact that Five at one point found out that Luther crushed Vanya/ put her in a cage, but we never got to see the scene of when he found out. I decided to quickly write something about how I think it could have gone 😊 Gifting to the people who convinced me to want to write it, thank you so much for providing inspiration for my writing!! 💕 I’ve decided also I want to write a series of fiveya fics set in season two, so that’s what this series will be :)

Five was pretty certain Diego had caught onto him being upset. He wasn’t sure if it was the fact that he had threatened him thrice in the past hour or the fact that Five was chewing on his fingernails or that he had told Diego if he didn’t stop his incessant goddamn JFK ranting he would pour scalding coffee on him until he did. Really, the last threat was completely empty. He would never waste coffee like that. 

Regardless of  _ how _ Diego found out he was pissed, Diego had to be aware at this point. He kept shooting furtive glances his way, and Five wanted to snap at him again to just say whatever he so clearly wanted to say. 

But Five decided to go the route of ignoring him. 

“Is it because of JFK?” Diego asked. Five felt his face draw into a scowl that was once a permanent fixture around his family (save Vanya and  _ sometimes _ Ben.) Even before Five was mentally a senior, he had a reputation for being “grumpy” (not the words he would choose, he would say all of his reactions to the world considering most of it was populated by morons.) 

“It’s not JFK then…” Diego ventured. “I do think we should be focusing more on that, Five. Don’t you understand that we have a responsibility to protect him?”

“No, we don’t,” Five sighed, rubbing his temple and succumbing to the pressure to help Diego understand why he was being such an idiot. “Diego, think of everything that happened in response to JFK’s death. You can’t honestly think that saving him is necessary.”

“But we have the chance to change that!” Diego implored. 

“It would upset the  _ timeline _ ,” Five said through gritted teeth. “Which could cause the  _ apocalypse _ .” 

Diego glanced down, face set in a stubborn expression that Five recognized just as easily from their childhood. Five loved his family. He really did. But most of them were incompetent and didn’t use a single braincell on  _ good  _ days. Diego was exemplifying right now what a  _ bad  _ day would look like. 

Five didn’t want to admit to himself the other reason his patience was worn thin. His mind flicked to Vanya’s face as she told him “new timeline, new me” and he realized he was sneering because Diego was looking at him again with that cautious expression he used to make when someone had hit him too hard in training and he amped up his powers in retaliation. 

“I just think we should protect innocents,” Diego said, inhaling a little like he was bracing himself to say something particularly gruesome. Five didn’t care for the theatrics. “I would think you’d want to protect innocents more than anything, considering what _just_ happened with Vanya.”

All Five could focus his thoughts on was him saying  _ Vanya _ . He thought of the sweet, timid, little Vanya from his childhood versus the woman she had become in his absence. One that had apparently decided she hated him at some point. 

Five didn’t want to ever admit aloud that he’d hate himself too if he had been in her position. Her best friend, or, in her own words, “sole confidante,” had tried to kill her. She wouldn’t have seen any of the hesitation he felt. The only evidence she had was that he had left her  _ twice  _ and then tried to kill her. Her being wary of him- well, he’d have gotten it completely if she  _ remembered  _ that. It seemed like Vanya hadn’t minded him at first, like she had deemed unworthy of her time at some point during his short time with her. Vanya had never gotten mad at him like that, always offering forgiveness every time. He had never realized he had grown to  _ expect  _ Vanya to care for him without any regard to how much of an asshole he was acting until she acted like she didn’t even give a shit if she was trapped three decades before she was even born. 

“Vanya seems to be handling herself completely fine right now,” Five said, carefully slipping his features into a cool mask he had learned from Reginald and maintained practice of in his time as a hired killer. 

“I’m talking about what happened with Luther,” Diego said. He was clearly trying to dangle a bone in Five’s face, trying to get him to take the bait and gnaw on that shit until Five was willing to save a president from being assassinated. 

Five at least could take a  _ very small _ bite. “What are you talking about, Diego?”

Diego’s eyes lit up like a kitten discovering a ceiling fan. “Did nobody tell you?”

“Diego, tell me what the fuck happened before I staple your tongue to a wall.”

Diego frowned. “Have you done that before?” 

Five rolled his eyes. “Just tell me. You clearly are eager to share this information.”

“Well, Vanya had to get the soundless cage somehow… and Luther-“

“Soundless cage?” Five’s eyebrows flicked skyward. “What the hell are you referring to, Diego?”

Diego looked sheepish. Five wanted to find a stapler to make good on his threat. 

“Well, uh. Vanya was kind of locked up. In, um... in a cage?” 

Five felt his shoulders tense, his breathing pick up. In as calm as a voice as he could manage, one that he found to be much more threatening in an interrogation than a growl, Five asked, “And did you take her out of this cage?”

Diego opened his mouth, floundering. Finally, he argued, “It was Luther’s idea! He’s the one that crushed her until she passed out from lack of air!”

Five picked at one of the cuticles that was loose from his nail biting. “And you’re telling me that you  _ let _ him do this?”

“I told him to let Vanya out,” Diego protested. 

“And  _ did  _ he, Diego? Did he let our sister out of the  _ cage _ she was forced into after being  _ choked _ ?” Five’s voice kept the calmness, but the threat was still very clearly there. 

“You had fucked off somewhere! Luther’s stronger than us, and we can’t telepo-“

“You’re blaming this on me, then?” Five’s composure slipped. He couldn’t help the hitch in his voice, thinking of the fact that if he had waited just a few fucking  _ hours  _ to say goodbye to Delores, he could have protected Vanya. How much would that have changed in saving the world? How much would that have changed Vanya hating him now? 

On some subconscious level, did  _ she  _ blame Five for all of the suffering she had gone through? Is that why she was so adamantly vicious to him now? She wanted to make him suffer too?

Didn’t she know he had suffered for nearly fifty years just by being apart from her?

“Why did you not let her out?” Five growled, squashing down his own guilt in the matter. He could train that guilt onto Diego, see, and then he would be okay. He would be okay in failing her over and over if he could blame someone else for failing her even further. 

Of course, they had never given her any reason to doubt that they  _ wouldn’t  _ hurt her. Five had been described as her  _ sole _ confidante for a reason. He was all she had, wasn’t he? At least of her family?

“You realize that not saving her might have caused the  _ apocalypse _ , Diego?” Five’s voice was raised, both it and his face set into a snarl. “You ever wonder how much of the apocalypse was all of your guys’ fault? You think I wanted to spend  _ decades  _ of my life in that shit?”

Diego opened his mouth, but Five was on a roll, feeling angry, frustrated tears threatening to come. He hadn’t truly cried in quite a while, he thought idly. 

“You think I don’t want to blame her for how much I went through? I was starved and alone and lost my mind from lack of sleep and water. But I wouldn’t have managed finding out about her powers by  _ locking her up in a cage.  _ And cut the bullshit, Diego, I know Luther may have done it, but you didn’t protect her. You let her  _ suffer _ …”

Five was barely able to catch his breath, shoving his face into his hands. He could sense his blood pressure rising. 

Vanya was never going to forgive any of them, was she? He would have to take her back to 2019 by  _ force _ when he finally figured out how the fuck to get there. 

No wonder she hated him. She should hate every single one of them. 

Even if she let the world burn over and over again, he would forgive her every time. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and thank you again to the people who inspired me to write this!


End file.
